“Which of the voting ‘conspiracy theorists’ are doing the most harm, in your view, and how?”

Maria: Which of the voting ‘conspiracy theorists’ are doing the most harm, in your view, and how?

Joe: Well, Fitrakis and Bello really seem to be getting widespread play this year for some reason. I can’t tell you how many otherwise smart and discerning people have asked me about both their two recent stories on “Romney owns voting machines in Ohio” and this new “scary last-minute software update” one. The frustrating part is that in other times of the year people like myself would have time to carefully debunk this well-manufactured drivel, but at the moment I’m too concerned with real issues, like making sure voters on election day and volunteers in the field have the information they need, however mundane or technical, to make sure all registered, eligible voters can cast a ballot. Luckily, in the case of the “Romney owns voting machines” story, the reliable fact-checking site Snopes.com has really hit it out of the park.

What an amazingly stupid idea! She probably doesn’t know—why would she?—that voting before we instituted the secret ballot in the US (around 1900 for most states) was a payday for most voters, and that when we instituted the secret ballot voter turnout dropped like a rock since vote buyers could no longer be assured that they were getting what they paid for.

Also, I’m not a big fan of the Brad Blog, as he can be very sensational and ego-driven. However, he often has good facts and original analysis, so while I don’t visit his site, I don’t immediately write-off what he has to say, just his tone and likely his policy recommendations.

Cheap Speech and What It Has Done (to American Democracy), First Amendment Law Review (forthcoming 2018) (draft available)

The 2016 U.S. Voting Wars: From Bad to Worse, William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal (forthcoming 2018) (draft available)

Essay: Race or Party, Race as Party, or Party All the Time: Three Uneasy Approaches to Conjoined Polarization in Redistricting and Voting Cases, William and Mary Law Review (forthcoming 2018) (draft available)